Vacuum Lamination question-endgrain showing

[Scott Rollins]

I want to laminate a bookmatched piece of highly figured walnut to a 1/2" peice of plywood. I have a vacuum press and I have done this many times, but never like this. I want it to look like a solid peice of wood when completed. I wouild like the end grain to show in the final table top. So I want to apply edging to the plywood with the end grain oreinted in the same direction as the top and botom piece. and side grain oreinted with the side grain. Due to seasonal expansion should I expect a failure? Instead of plywood should I use a normal slab of walnut in its place?
Here is a pic in case I could not describe it well enough.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've done this end-grain trick a couple of times, and it has worked. I've started with the thought that veneer itself tries to expand and contract, but the plywood substrate is so strong that it just forces the veneer to stay put.

So... if the end-grain lumber is also small, the plywood substrate should be able to prevent it from expanding and contracting, too, right? I made the end-grain pieces to have a T-shaped cross-section, and put a matching slot along the substrate's end. This gives lots of face-grain glue area, so the plywood should really hold on to the end-grain piece. I also made the top of the T to be only an eighth or so thick, also to reduce its ability to push the plywood around.

I have a pair of chests of drawers whose drawer fronts are built like this, and they've survived twenty-five years now without trouble.

[Jim Becker]

I think I would use a walnut core for this rather than plywood. It solves your end-grain issue and also fixes any wood movement differences that you may have with "thick veneer" on a plywood substrate.